College Friday at Mi Casa Neighborhood Center

Posted by Naia Posniak, Program Assistant The Mi Casa Neighborhood Center celebrated College Friday Lake Middle School on Friday, April 8, with students and staff wearing their favorite college gear. Joel Orozco, a student at Metropolitan State College of Denver and President of MCSD’s chapter of Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, spoke to the students in Mi Casa’s afterschool program about the barriers he faced as an immigrant student getting accepted to and especially paying for higher education. Joel stressed that plenty of resources are available for the students who seek them out and encouraged students to start thinking about and preparing for college. After Joel’s speech, some students were asked what they thought of his experiences: “It made me think he’s right,” one female student mused. “It’s never too early to think about college. I also thought it was cool that he was the first person in his family to go to college.” “I liked that he was from Chihuahua,” one young man observed. “That’s cool because that’s where I am from.”